Not a lot of enthusiasm by big oil companies to jump into Venezuela right away: RBC's Helima Croft

Summary

Helima Croft of RBC Capital Markets discusses the oil-market and investment implications of U.S. military involvement in Venezuela on CNBC's Fast Money. She argues Venezuela's oil industry is severely deteriorated and cannot quickly become a shale-like supply solution, and that U.S. oil majors are unlikely to rush back due to governance, security, and control questions. She highlights ConocoPhillips' large non-sovereign claim and settlement as a key Venezuela-related company issue.

• Helima Croft reviews Venezuela's multi-decade oil production decline and deteriorated infrastructure.
• She says political and security uncertainty, not reserves, is the core obstacle to oil-company reentry.
• U.S. oil companies are described as showing little enthusiasm to jump back into Venezuela right away.
• ConocoPhillips is cited as having the largest non-sovereign debt and an $8 billion settlement tied to Venezuela.
• Existing Russian and Chinese interests in Venezuela's oil sector raise unresolved questions about future deals.
• Croft pushes back on the idea that Venezuela can quickly become a bulwark of U.S. energy security.
• She contrasts Venezuela's difficult, long-cycle oil profile with short-cycle U.S. shale.